One pet that we never even thought to ask for was a cat. None of us ever cared for cats, so it was never brought up. When I would sleep over with a friend who had a cat, I ignored the animal. No desire to mess with cats. In fact, I actually grew to despise them... mainly because the ones I HAD been around were either really skittish or really stuck up.
Well about a year and a half ago, I adopted a kitten from a shelter. Why on earth would I do something so dumb? I've asked myself that same question nearly every day since getting the cat. Until recently, that is. You see, his main purpose is to take care of bugs for me... namely crickets. I can't handle seeing or being around them without having an actual panic attack. Embarrassing, I know.
Paka (my cat) has done a fabulous job keeping the bugs away, but he's also just plain annoying. Because I'm not used to cats, I'm not accustomed to the dumb crap that they do ALL the time. He constantly knocks stuff off of shelves and tables. I come home or wake up to things broken, messed up, or missing all the time. My response has always been to grab him and put him in the basement for the day (where his food and box are, btw). Over the last year and a half, I really grew to hate the cat. There was no part of him that I enjoyed. In my eyes, he was just a bug killer that I had to feed. My dog enjoys having him and they often cuddle and play together... which is one of the only reasons he's lasted as long as he has. The church got an exterminator for me and as soon as that happened, I started looking for someone to take the cat, figuring that the dog would get over the loss. I didn't want to return him to the shelter, but I didn't want to keep him.
If I'm being honest, I've been kinda mean to him. I yell at him for doing those dumb cats things. The other day, I caught myself raising my voice at him just because he exists. He had done something very cat-like and I wasn't having it. It was in that moment that I realized how awful I've been. First of all, he didn't choose to come live here. I adopted him. I made the choice to bring him into my home. The annoying, sometimes destructive things that he does are not meant to make me angry... he's just doing what cats do.
But more than that... through the words of a friend, I realized how little grace I've extended my cat. But how much like the cat can I be sometimes? I do stupid stuff human stuff all the time. I destroy things and make messes of things. I mean, we've all been born into captivity to sin... our nature is to be sinful and disobedient. Like a cat, I like to do my own thing. You know how cats sometimes just take off running for no apparent reason? I do that too. (No, not literally... though, how funny would that be?)
Before I was born, God knew me. And yet He still chose to give me life and make me His beloved! He knew that I would do stupid human things and yet He still sent His Son to the cross for me. Amazing grace, indeed!! How great is His love for ALL His people?
As I thought about this even further, the Lord revealed more of His great compassion and I made a conscious decision to love my cat. It seems to go against all of my instincts to love Paka, but love isn't just a feeling. It's a choice. I have to choose to love him even if I don't think he deserves it... because the reality is that I don't deserve the love I've been shown. None of us do. So what does that mean for me today, aside from living peacefully and loving my cat? It means that I understand a little bit better how to look on EVERYONE with love... not just those who make it easy to love them.
In His great wisdom, God knew that I needed a shot of compassion. There is not one person alive who isn't in need of a Savior. There's not one person alive who doesn't deserve to hear the Truth. Am I supposed to love everyone? Absolutely! Am I going to encounter people who don't want me to love them? Yep, but I will make the choice to love them anyway. It's not my job to pick and choose who to love. Sometimes love flows so easily. Other times it's going to have to be a conscious choice. In any case, my prayer today is that I will always move and speak with the compassion of my Savior.
My house is so much more peaceful since I decided to love Paka. When I come downstairs in the morning and one of my beloved trinkets from Africa is in the middle of my living room, I simply pick it up and put it back. I'm still not a cat person. I'm not sure that'll ever happen, but I am thankful for Paka AND that God is cool enough to remind me of something through a pet. What an awesome God!
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